The Epic 4G has almost everything you could want in a smart phone -- a blazing fast CPU and GPU, cutting-edge wireless, video-conferencing, and a physical keyboard.

The phone impacts the market on Aug. 31.

Epic 4G is packed with the same attractive features as the Vibrant -- plus 4G and front-facing camera

Samsung
in May quietly slipped into first
place in the overall U.S. mobile market. However, in
the Android smartphone market, it's been forced to endure sitting in
third place behind HTC
and Motorola. That was largely because despite having a couple
Android handsets (Moment and
Intercept)
it didn't have a truly dominant handset like its competitors -- until
now.

Then Samsung unleashed the Galaxy S. In July the super
smartphone hit
the T-Mobile network, dubbed the "Vibrant", and the AT&T network, dubbed the "Captivate". Now Sprint has
become the third major carrier to announce the
pricing and availability of a Galaxy S variant, and the first to announce the keyboard-equipped variant of the phone, the Galaxy S Pro. Sprint is rebranding it the "Samsung
Epic 4G".

Specs-wise the Galaxy S Pro is a beast. It
features a relatively large 480x800 pixel 4.0-inch AMOLED screen, a
commanding PowerVR GPU, 512 MB of RAM, between 8 and 16 GB of memory,
microSD expansion (up to 32 GB), a
rear-facing camera capable of shooting 720p video, and a front-facing
VGA camera for video calling (on some carriers).

The
phone features a powerful 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 based CPU code-named
"Hummingbird", co-developed by Samsung and Intrinsity.
In early benchmarks, the 1 GHz Hummingbird smoked
the competition, proving to be about 50 percent faster than
Apple's A4 found in the iPhone 4 or TI OMAP processor found in
the Droid
X. The Hummingbird makes the Galaxy S the world's fastest
smartphone.

The phone is among the first offer Bluetooth 3.0
connectivity. It also is among the first to offer support for
the DivX HD/XviD format.

Sprint's version of the Galaxy S sports numerous advantages over its T-Mobile "Vibrant"
brethren. First, it adds support for Sprint's 4G WiMAX network,
which has already spread across numerous urban areas in the U.S.
In testing with HTC EVO 4G, Sprint's next-gen network showcased
significantly higher data transfer speeds (especially useful while
tethering) and the ability to simultaneously make voice calls while
transmitting data (not possible using Sprint's traditional 3G
CDMA).

The Epic 4G also adds the front-facing camera of the
international ("Pro") version, which was stripped from the Vibrant.
Also added is the LED flash of the international version. The
only downside is that it gets thicker than the Vibrant --
going from 9.9 mm thick (the thinnest Android phone on the market) to
14.3 mm thick (due to the QWERTY keyboard) -- just slightly thicker than the EVO 4G.

Finally, it adds a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. While this makes the phone a bit thicker, it will be appreciated by many who dislike touchscreen virtual keyboards.

The
only spec not yet announced by Sprint is whether the phone will
feature 8 GB or 16 GB of internal memory. The phone ships with
Android 2.1, but an Android 2.2 Froyo update will be available before
the end of September. A leaked build is already available for those who want to root their phones (though this is a test build, so admittedly may have issues).

Regardless of that unknown, if you want
an Android smartphone, Sprint's Epic 4G at
this point is
the best handset on the market, hands down, in everything except
screen size (the HTC EVO 4G and Droid X have it beat in this
department). One final aspect in which it dominates is battery
life. The AMOLED screen turns off black pixels, which allows
the battery to be milked to almost two days in standard use scenarios
-- much better than the almost one
day that the HTC EVO 4G is getting.

The Galaxy S
will eventually
hit Verizon rebranded as the "Fascinate", but it
won't have the front-facing camera.

Sprint will retail the Epic 4G at a $50 premium
from the Vibrant, charging $249.99 USD for the smart phone with new
contract, and after $100 mail-in rebate. Contract pricing is identical to the EVO 4G -- $69.99
USD for unlimited cell-to-cell calling, data, and texts per month, $10 monthly USD premium for the privilege of earning a 4G-capable smart phone ahead of the masses,
and $29.99 USD if you opt to tether from your device.

The
phone goes on sale August 31 and this Friday (August 13) pre-orders
begin.

At this point it seems relatively straightforward --
the Samsung Epic 4G features the fastest processor-- by far -- of any
Android phone on the market. It also has industry leading
battery life. And of the Galaxy S smartphones in the U.S. the
Epic 4G is clearly the cream of the crop.

Note:

There were some questions about the $10 "4G fee" on the device. Sprint spokesman John Taylor wrote an explanation of this fee for the HTC EVO 4G, elaborating:

If you buy the Sprint 4G EVO, you have to pay this $10 charge each month. This is specific to the device. It's not related to whether you are using 3G or 4G. It is required if you have the phone.

Because the phone has a faster processor, a huge 4.3 inch screen and an 8 megapixel camcorder/camera, we expect you will be using a lot more data than you would with our other devices. These features will give you capabilities that have previously never been available on a wireless device and we think they provide a premium experience. (Remember, this is the world's first 3G/4G Android phone.)

Essentially the message seems to be that the fee is essentially for the 4G coverage, but Sprint doesn't want to call it that, so instead is saying it's for the handset(s) overall greatness -- including the 4G. While we think this is a bit of a strange approach, Sprint is the first carrier to widely offer "true" 4G (Verizon offers it in 5+ cities currently, but has few compatible handsets; T-Mobile offers the 3.5G tech HSPA+), so we're not complaining.

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quote: I don't live in a 4G area, and my contract already states 'unlimited'. I had the EVO for a month and didn't use any more bandwidth than with an old Touch Pro 2.

It really all depends on the options you pick (e.g. tethering) in terms of whether the data use is justified. As for the 4G, Sprint is rolling it out pretty fast, so you may be covered pretty soon. I *just* heard that I now may be covered in the second half of this year.

That said, I don't live in a 3G area, but still think my EVO is worth it, data fee and all. I STILL end up paying less... see below.

...switched to Sprint and picked up the tethering option and ditched Comcast (they tried to bump my rate to $40+/month).

Now I pay $117/month, a savings of approximately $47/month . That's pretty nice. And the data speeds are quite decent.

I tend to go over 5 GB on some months (if I download games from Valve, etc.) Last month was one of them. On Verizon/AT&T, that would have meant a huge overage -- hence tethering would *not* be an option on those networks for me. But on Sprint it WAS.

I love my EVO phone and have to say I'm quite happy with the money Sprint is saving me without settling for a "lesser" smart phone!

God I so wish I could do that, but I only have two options where I am at: Comcast or Verizon DSL. Blah. I wanted to get Cox 3 Mbps for $32.95. They don't make it required to get cable or phone like Comcast and Verizon does (without charing obscene prices for it).

Hopefully when/if I get 4G coverage I'll get that Clear iSpot dealie (hack it to work on my Windows machine).

It is really really tempting to switch over to just the mobile plan for everything. $15 voice plus $35 unlimited data (3G) plus $3/mo for unlimited Skype calls to North American numbers. $53/month for everything, ditching cable internet and land-line phone.

I live in Salt Lake City and presently I am in Jacksonville, FL, Both 4G cities. Although Sprint 4G is awesome it is not a replacement for dedicated broadband wired broadband service, either cable or fiber (which I have to my house). ESPECIALLY using it as a hot spot for mutliple users.

The best speeds I have gotten anywhere with my EVO is around 4Mbps. That's with a perfect OUTDOOR signal and a tail wind going down hill.

WIMAX is viable for home use in areas that have limited wired coverage. But great for a phone!